AGENCY SEEKS TO RID DISTRICT OF 'UNDESIRABLES'

Plans for redeveloping downtown call for the area to feature trendy shops, restaurants and hotels.

Propane storage areas and grain transfer stations are not included, agency members say.

But the Community Redevelopment Agency is discovering there may be little it can do to move businesses that existed in or near the 25-acre Central Business District before the district itself was so designated.

"It's a problem," said CRA Chairman Henry Thompson. "We don't have an answer yet, but it's something we're working on."

The agency wants to find a way it can force or persuade businesses it deems undesirable to move out of the Central Business District.

"I don't see how we can get a developer to come in there and spend a lot of money when a dangerous use is right there next to him," CRA Vice Chairman Sam Scheiner said of Tropigas Inc. of Florida. The propane storage and transfer plant is located at 711 N. Federal Highway, just outside the district.

But Tropigas General Manager Steve Watson looks at it another way.

"We store and distribute propane, but we also have a retail center with a showroom and a customer service center," Watson said. "If our tanks were below ground rather than above, there probably wouldn't be any problem."

A near disaster a decade ago has left some city officials leery of having the propane gas storage tanks so near the Florida East Coast Railroad tracks, Watson and city fire officials concede.

A derailed car narrowly missed crashing into one of the tanks about 10 years ago, according to agency members and City Fire Inspector Kevin Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh remembers the incident well, because it was one of the first major accidents he worked in the city. But as uncomfortable as some officials may be, Tropigas' otherwise perfect track record and its strict observance of state and city safety codes ensures that it can remain at its current location, Cavanaugh said.

"As long as (Tropigas) continues to operate like it has, the city is stuck with it where it is," he said.

Assistant City Planner Jim Golden backed up Cavanaugh's statement.

"As long as the uses don't violate any city code, there's really nothing the CRA can do, because the uses are grandfathered in," he said.

Watson said Tropigas seriously has studied moving west of Interstate 95, but the company cannot afford to pay the high prices for industrial-zoned land there.

"If they want to buy us a piece of property and move us across the highway, we'd be happy to go," he added.

Michael Haygood, attorney for the CRA, has said that the city may be able to exercise its police powers and force businesses that do not fall within the uses allowed in the district to leave the municipality's boundaries. Officials must give the business a grace period before forcing it out, which is meant to allow the business to prepare for and offset its loss.

Neighboring Ocean Ridge is forcing commercial businesses from its boundaries through this process.

"If a reasonable time is provided, the courts, based on prior decisions, should uphold the techinique," Haygood wrote to the redevelopment agency.

But Haygood points out that the process, called amortization, can take from five to 40 years.

Thompson said he may ask the Palm Beach County Health Department to help have a grain transfer station moved from its current location in the district. He said he thinks the business is attracting rodents.

"These are undesirable businesses, and if they were to come in today, they would not be allowed," he said.

CRA Executive Director Dianne Lawes currently is compiling a list of all non- conforming businesses that now operate in the district, Thompson said. When the list is completed, the agency will have a better idea of how to handle the situation, he added.